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1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
base model or SE? The climate controls on the base model have had some problems...see the TSB under the service section at http://www.genuinesaab.com for a fix that mostly takes care of it. Could be $800 to get it fixed at a dealer. Make sure they turn smoothly without too much effort before you buy the car.
The DI cassette will die at some point. Carry a spare in the trunk. $300 part, and 10 minutes to change (much easier than changing a tire). Or, if you wait until it goes, you're looking at getting the car towed to a dealer and paying about $700 for them to do I don't know what.
The head bolts on some of these cars were improperly torqued from the factory. The convertibles were built in a different factory from the hatchbacks...does anyone know whether this problem applies to the convertibles as well? Ask if the headbolts have been retorqued. If not, you may want to have this done as preventative maintenance (save yourself from a head gasket replacement later). Dealer might charge about $200 to do the retorque.
Make sure all the pixels are working on the computer display. Eventually, these will start to go out. There are ways to fix it yourself without too much work. It's a $400 part at the dealer.
Aside from those problems, these are very good cars. They _must_ have proper regular maintenance. That means oil changes, preferably every 5000 miles, and preferably with full synthetic oil. If you're having the head bolts retorqued (or doing it yourself), check for oil sludge at the same time.
The other key part of maintenance is to inspect the serpentine belt _and_ the idler pulley, at least every 10,000 miles, and replace as necessary. Lifetime for these parts seems to be 50-60k. If there's any squealing from the idler pulley (at the top, rear of the engine, right side of the car), or if the belt shows signs of wear or cracking, replace the belt and pulley. Someone had a quote of $240 from a dealer recently. It's about $100 in parts and an hour in labor, so you can probably find an indy to do it for under $200.
Test the car out and make sure it's in good condition, and that it's been taken care of well. If so, it will treat you well for many more miles.
Matt
'99 base
posted by 65.106.18...
, Fri, 8 Apr 2005 15:56:43
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